Minnesota battles Indiana for WNBA Championship

Minneapolis, MN (Sports Network) - The Minnesota Lynx resume the chase for
their second straight WNBA Championship on Sunday when they face the Indiana
Fever in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals.

The Lynx swept the Atlanta Dream in three games last year to win their first
WNBA title. They can join the Houston Comets, who won the first four WNBA
titles, and Los Angeles Sparks as teams to successfully defend their
championships.

Minnesota swept Los Angeles to advance to the championship and boast three
Olympic gold medallists in the starting five. Lindsay Whalen, Seimone Augustus
and Maya Moore helped the U.S. to gold in London this summer. Rebekkah Brunson
and Taj McWilliams-Franklin, the oldest player in the WNBA, round out the
starters for the Lynx.

The Fever have a pretty talented roster as well, highlighted by 2011 MVP,
Tamika Catchings. She has averaged 16.8 points and 10.2 rebounds in the
playoffs and her role may be expanded.

Katie Douglas, Indiana's second-leading scorer, injured her ankle in Game 3 of
the Eastern Conference Finals. Her availability is in question as she was
taken to the hospital during Thursday's clinching win for the Fever.

As if Catchings doesn't have enough on her plate, she is probably the best
player in WNBA history without a title.

"This is what you play for. You play to make it to the Finals," Catchings
said. "So when you get in a situation like this and we're sitting there and
we're all circled around her when (Douglas) is laying on the floor, the one
thing when we went back is that we talked about, 'hey, one person goes down,
everybody steps up,' and everybody stepped up."

Minnesota won both regular-season match-ups.

Game 2 is Wednesday, also in Minnesota. The series shifts to Indiana for Game
3 on Friday, then, if necessary, Game 4 is scheduled for Oct. 21. The finale
would be back in Minnesota on Oct. 24.